


The Care & Feeding of Toni Stark

by ficlicious



Series: Tumblr Prompts & Ficlets [8]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Engineering, Female Tony Stark, Ficlet, Food, Gen, Rabbit Hole, Rhodey Is a Good Bro, Rule 63, Stars Universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-24
Updated: 2016-07-24
Packaged: 2018-07-26 11:52:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 713
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7573057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ficlicious/pseuds/ficlicious
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Small ficlet inspired by <a href="http://allthemarvelousrage.tumblr.com/post/147893380611/samurljackson-allthemarvelousrage">this post</a>, in which there is discussion as to the nature of Tony's relationship with snacking and engineering binges.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Care & Feeding of Toni Stark

**Author's Note:**

  * For [windscryer](https://archiveofourown.org/users/windscryer/gifts).



> Because I can't help myself.

_August 12, 2000_  
_Star Solutions Facility,_  
_Culver City, CA_

“How long has it been this time?”

Pepper sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose, rubbing her forehead. “Twenty hours and counting,” she says tiredly, then raises her head, refolds her arms across her chest and returns her attention to the screen displaying the feed into Toni’s workshop. 

Rhodey, cap in hand and still in dress blues from whatever government meeting he’d left when Pepper texted him to come, leans in to squint at the screen, watching Toni move around the lab with the fever-bright, hyperfocus genius look that usually chills him to the soul, because that’s the one he associates with the soulless, can-opening killing machine Toni once brought to life. “You turned off the music?” 

Pepper nods. “Ten hours in, when JARVIS reported she hadn’t eaten. She didn’t notice for thirty minutes, and then she overrode our lockouts to turn it back on.”

Rhodey’s lips thin. “Tried the workstations?”

“Twelve hours in. She didn’t even ask JARVIS to turn them back on. Just moved to the whiteboard in the corner. And when she ran out of whiteboard, she started scribbling on the walls.” Pepper starts lifting fingers as she counts them all down. “We’ve wafted food smells through the air vent, we’ve tried spritzing her with ice water, tried protein shakes in place of coffee. We tried physically pulling her out, but that just resulted in a spectacular black eye for Happy.”

“Clint has been teaching her how to fight,” Rhodey says, still eyeing the monitor. “Where is he, anyway?”

“On assignment with SHIELD,” Pepper says, and sighs. “Jim, are we really at the place where we’re wishing for a government spy and assassin to deal with Toni’s engineering binges?”

“Only when that government assassin is her boyfriend, Pep,” Rhodey says, and grins over his shoulder at her. “Don’t think I don’t see that Tazer on the charger in the corner.”

“It’s a last resort,” Pepper says primly. “For when we’re out of options.”

Rhodey straightens, stretches out his back. “And how many options do we have left?”

Pepper’s tight-lipped silence is all the answer he needs. 

“Alright,” he says. “I’ll take a crack at it. Haven’t seen her this bad, but I used to be pretty good at breaking her out of these states. Where’s your freezer?”

Pepper blinks. “The freezer? I told you. We already tried ice water.”

Rhodey shakes his head. “Nah, Pep. If you want to get Toni to eat, but she’s on autopilot and won’t respond? You gotta break out the big guns. You have to break out Ben & Jerry’s.”

—-

He approaches it like a scientist, testing a theory against the control before varying the experiment. So when he keys in his pass code for Toni’s lab, he doesn’t try to speak to Toni, doesn’t try to pry her away from the chaotic mass of electronic parts she’s engrossed in. He doesn’t try to engage her at all. He simply walks to her workbench, sets the plate of samplers he whipped up in the kitchen beside her, and waits to see what she’ll do. 

Within five minutes, without looking up from the soldering, her right hand spiderwalks over to the plate, grabs one of the edible mini-muffin wrappers filled with tiny scoops of Ben & Jerry’s Chocolate Fudge Brownie, and pops it directly in her mouth. 

Rhodey grins in satisfaction, and watches for a few minutes as Toni smoothly incorporates popping ice cream wrappers into her mouth with weaving together delicate wiring. Basic hypothesis is solid. Now it’s time to test the variables. He pulls out his cell phone and flips it open, holds down the button for Pepper’s direct line. “Success,” he says. 

Pepper sighs in relief. “So what now?”

“Now,” Rhodey says, digging in his pocket for the packet of airline peanuts he stashed there earlier and spreading them in a pile on the now-empty plate, and grins wider when Toni starts mechanically grabbing those as well, “we buy a lot of finger foods. Non-greasy, dry. Trail mix, maybe. Know somewhere close and open?”

There’s a moment of silence, and then Pepper clears her throat. “This is California, Jim,” she says. “Of course I know somewhere close and open. I’ll be back in thirty minutes.”

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on tumblr at [allthemarvelousrage.tumblr.com](allthemarvelousrage.tumblr.com).


End file.
